The saying of Allah, the Exalted and Majestic:

﴿That is because they preferred the worldly life over the Hereafter, and indeed Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.﴾ ﴿Those are the ones upon whose hearts and hearing and sight Allah has set a seal. And those are the heedless.﴾ ﴿Certainly, they are in the Hereafter the losers.﴾ ﴿Then indeed, your Lord, for those who emigrated after they had been subjected to trial, then strove and were patient, indeed your Lord, after that, is Forgiving and Merciful.﴾ ﴿On the Day when every soul will argue for itself, and every soul will be fully compensated for what it earned, and they will not be wronged.﴾

"That is" refers to the anger and punishment that He threatened before this verse. The pronoun in "that they" refers to those who have opened their hearts to disbelief. When they acted like those who preferred, they were obliged to that even if they were not believers in the Hereafter. However, the matter in itself is clear. From the point that they turned away from contemplating it, they were like those who preferred something else. This verse links the punishment to their earning, and that is because their preference for the adornment of this world and the pleasures of disbelief is the earning.

And His saying: ﴿And indeed Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.﴾ refers to Allah's creation of disbelief in their hearts. There is no doubt that the disbelief of the disbeliever upon which punishment is based is indeed a creation from Allah, the Exalted, and an earning from the disbeliever. Thus, the verse combines both matters, and upon this the belief of the people of the Sunnah has passed. And His saying: ﴿Does not guide the disbelieving people.﴾ is general in that He does not guide them as they are disbelievers in their disbelief, or it is general intended for the specific ones who arrive.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿Those are the ones upon whose hearts Allah has set a seal.﴾ The verse indicates Allah's diversion of them from the path of guidance, and the creation of the dark disbelief in their hearts, and the predominance of turning away over their sight. It is as if He has closed the paths of these senses so that they cannot benefit from them in consideration and reflection. And the saying has preceded and the mention of the difference in sealing and stamping in Surah Al-Baqarah, and whether it is a reality or a metaphor. And "hearing" is a generic name, and it is originally a source, so for that reason it is singular. And He pointed out their earning of turning away from contemplation, thus He described them as heedless. And the explanation of "certainly" has preceded in this Surah.

And His saying, the Most High: "Then indeed, your Lord is for those who emigrated after they were tempted." Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: There were people from the people of Makkah who embraced Islam, and they took Islam lightly. The polytheists expelled them on the day of Badr along with them, and some of them were killed. The Muslims said: These are our companions who are Muslims and were coerced, so seek forgiveness for them. Then the verse was revealed: "Indeed, those whom the angels take in death while they are wronging themselves" [An-Nisa: 97] to the end of the verse. He said: And it was written concerning those who remained of the Muslims in Makkah, that there is no excuse for them. So they went out, and the polytheists caught up with them and subjected them to temptation. Then the verse was revealed concerning them: "And among the people are some who say, 'We have believed in Allah'" [Al-Baqarah: 8] to the end of the verse. The Muslims wrote to them about that, so they went out and despaired of all good. Then the verse was revealed concerning them: "Then indeed, your Lord is for those who emigrated after they were tempted." So they wrote to them about that, that Allah had made for them a way out. The polytheists caught up with them and fought them until those who were saved were saved, and those who were killed were killed.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The narration has come that after the revelation of the verse, they went out. The jihad mentioned in the verse refers to their jihad with the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, for Islam. A group narrated that they went out and followed and fought their followers, so those who were killed were killed, and those who were saved were saved. The verse was revealed at that time, so the meaning of the jihad mentioned refers to their jihad against their followers.

Ibn Ishaq said: This verse was revealed concerning Ammar ibn Yasir, and Iyyash ibn Abi Rabi'ah, and Al-Walid ibn Al-Walid.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The mention of Ammar in this is not sound to me, for he is of a higher status than these. Rather, these are those who repented from those who opened their hearts to disbelief. Allah opened for them the door of repentance at the end of the verse.

Ikrimah and Al-Hasan said: This verse was revealed concerning Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh and his likes. It is as if he said: After the devil tempted them. This verse is Medinan, and I do not know of any disagreement in that. If there is any, it is weak.

The majority read: "After they were tempted" with a dammah on the fa and a kasrah on the ta. Ibn Amer read it alone with a fathah. If the pronoun refers to the tortured ones, it means: They tempted themselves with what they gave to the polytheists in words, as Ammar ibn Yasir did. As for the reading of the majority, if the pronoun refers to the tortured ones, it means: After the polytheists tempted them. If the pronoun refers to the polytheists, it means: After the devil tempted them. The pronoun in "after it" refers back to the temptation, or to the action, or to the emigration, or to the repentance, and the speech supports it, even if there is no explicit mention of it.

'And His saying, the Exalted: "On the Day when every soul will argue," means: 'The Forgiving, the Merciful on that Day.' And His saying: "Every soul" means: 'Every being with a soul.' Then I apply the action to the mentioned addition, so the sign is feminine. The first "soul" is the known soul, and the second is in the meaning of the essence, as you say: 'The soul of the thing and its eye,' meaning its essence. "And every soul will be fully compensated" means: will be rewarded, everyone who has done good with their good, and everyone who has done evil with their evil.

The apparent meaning of the verse is that every soul argues, whether it is a believer or a disbeliever. So when the disbelievers argue with their lies and their denial of disbelief, the limbs and the messengers and others witness against them according to the groups. At that time, they will not speak, "And they will not be permitted to make excuses" [Al-Mursalat: 36]. Thus, the verses of the Qur'an gather with the difference of the contexts. And a group said: The saying of every one of the prophets and others: 'My soul, my soul,' and this is not an argument or a dispute, rather it is merely a desire.